A deluge in India's flood-stricken southwestern state of Kerala finally let up on Sunday, giving some respite for thousands of marooned families, while authorities feared an outbreak of disease among over 200,000 people crammed into relief camps. Incessant rains since August 8 have caused the state's worst floods in a century, and at least 186 people have perished, many of them killed by landslides. The beaches and backwaters of Kerala are top destinations for domestic and international tourists, but far fewer visit during the monsoon season. The India Meteorological Department forecast heavy rainfall only at one or two places of Kerala on Sunday and withdrew a red alert in several districts. Flood waters too began to recede from several places. Using boats and helicopters, India's military has led rescue efforts to reach people in communities cut off for days by the floods, with many trapped on roof tops and the upper floors of their homes, and in desperate need of food and potable water. Rescue teams were focused on the town of Chengannur on the banks of the Pamba River, where some 5,000 people are feared to be trapped, officials said. Volunteers reach out to stranded people with food supplies in a flooded area in Chengannur in the southern state of Kerala Credit: Aijaz Rahi/ AP More than 200,000 families have taken refuge at relief camps set up across the state, an official at the Kerala State Disaster Management office said. Kerala's chief minister had earlier said over 200,000 people had taken shelter in camps since the monsoon rains began three months ago. Anil Vasudevan, who handles disaster management at the Kerala health department, said authorities had isolated three people with chickenpox in one of the relief camps in Aluva town, nearly 250 km (155 miles) from state capital Thiruvananthapuram. He said the department was preparing to deal with a possible outbreak of water-borne and air-borne diseases in the camps, where an estimated two million people have taken shelter since the monsoon rains began three months ago. Kerala, which usually receives high rainfall, has seen over 250 percent more rain than normal between August 8 and August 15, causing the state authorities to release water from 35 dangerously full dams, sending a surge into its main river. As the rain abated on Sunday morning, one resident in Cheranelloor, a suburb of Kochi situated on the banks of the Periyar river, visited his home to see when he and his family could return. "The entire house is covered with mud. It will take days to clean to make it liveable. All our household articles, including the TV and fridge have been destroyed," 60-year-old T P Johnny told Reuters. Kochi's airport is closed due to waterlogging, and Jet Airways has arranged additional flights from Thiruvananthapuram for passengers holding confirmed tickets from Kochi.

British physicist Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous sufferers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the fatal neurological disease that paralysed his body but did nothing to curb his contribution to science. The rare condition normally claims the lives of those who have it within two to three years of diagnosis, making Hawking’s five-decade fight to overcome the disease an extraordinary exception. The neurodegenerative condition attacks the motor nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, hampering their ability to communicate with muscles and control voluntary movements, leading to eventual paralysis.

cancer-creates-chemo-photo-shoot/”>Marquina Iliev-Piselli is a naturally upbeat, positive person — and her joyous attitude about life carried her through hours of breast cancer treatment over the last two years. Now in remission, the book marketer made it her goal to organize events that will help other breast cancer patients make it through their own hospital visits with the same sunny outlook.

“Having a positive attitude lifted up everyone around me,” Iliev-Piselli, 38, tells PEOPLE. “I don’t dread going to the hospital, but a lot of people do, so I’ll go back, and I’ll be the one who supports others.”

With the help of her hospital, New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Breast Center in New York City, Iliev-Piselli started the Women’s Empowerment Project, and plans to put on two projects a year for patients. Her first idea was to cover breast cancer patients and survivors in body paint and putting on a photoshoot, and seven other women signed up.

“I can’t know before it happens what the vibe will be like, because it’s art, and it’s happening. But it was so much better and more fun than I even imagined,” Iliev-Piselli says.

The day started with each woman picking out a design and sitting for two to three hours of body painting.

“We would paint something that was meaningful to us,” Iliev-Piselli explains. “One woman had a rose coming out of her chest; another woman chose a phoenix rising from the ashes because she felt like she was reborn. Another woman chose a dragon, because she races dragon boats, and it’s one of the things that makes her feel most powerful. There was this idea of their inside self being portrayed on their outside self.”

“It makes you look at your body in a new way, a body that you hadn’t looked at in awhile, or if you did, you were critical. But you weren’t critical this time,” Iliev-Piselli says. “Having something beautiful done, and looking at your body and accepting it is very important.”

The women felt invigorated a second time when they started posing, and some even went out to Central Park for a second shoot.

“I made them take a few photos first, and then look at them. They’d see the photos and their eyes would light up — their whole expression changes. They look so different from their idea in their head of themselves,” Iliev-Piselli says. “And they would say things like, ‘Wow, that’s me? I look amazing!’ and then they would be so much more energized! So many of the pictures were us just dancing around, and I love it.”

One of the best parts though, Iliev-Piselli says, was getting body painted together.

“I didn’t realize that having an open room where everyone was painted together would be like a therapy session,” she says. “There were women who hadn’t ever talked about their cancer to other survivors. That ended up being one of the more powerful moments.”